CALCUTTA, India—A Church inquiry has begun in the Archdiocese of Calcutta into an alleged miraculous cure that was achieved through Mother Teresa's intercession.

Missionaries of Charity Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, postulator of the canonization cause of Mother Teresa, said the alleged miracle involved a 30-year-old woman in Raiganj, some 250 miles north of Calcutta, who had a stomach tumor.

When doctors found her too weak to be operated on, three Missionaries of Charity nuns placed on the woman's stomach a medal that had earlier touched Mother Teresa's body, and they prayed over the woman.

The woman immediately felt lighter and all pain disappeared, witnesses said. The next morning, her stomach returned to its normal size, they said. One of the sisters gave testimony Nov. 26 about the events during the inquiry's second day.

“Proof of a miracle is not easy,” Father Kolodiejchuk said, “and medical experts are called to testify whether such a cure could be explained by medical science.”

Although there have been reports of several miracles in eastern India, only the Raiganj case was chosen for investigation initially, as it seemed to fit the required criteria best, the postulator said.

Nobel Peace laureate Mother Teresa based her life and work in Calcutta, where she died of cardiac arrest Sept. 5, 1997, at the age of 87.

In life, and perhaps even more since her death, Mother Teresa's spiritual power is also recognized by India's non-Christian religions, according to a report in Vidimus Dominum (We have seen the Lord), an information service for the world's Catholic religious orders.

The article highlighted a spiritual center of the local Jain religion in southern India where Mother Teresa is venerated and honored. Primarily a place of prayer, the center is also involved in educational and social work in the villages of the Karnataka region.

In similar Jain and Hindu centers in the region and elsewhere in India, Mother Teresa's picture is often visible, surrounded by flowers, candles and burning incense. (From combined wire services)